Stone shutters are removably secured to columbarium structures by a mounting system that is preferably substantially concealed or substantially hidden from view so as not to detract from the appearance of the stone and the reverent atmosphere of the columbarium. The concealed mounting system must resist corrosion and it must securely hold the shutters in position despite extreme temperature swings and countless freeze-thaw cycles for season-after-season and year-after-year, for decades, if not centuries. In addition, the mounting system must permit the shutters to be relatively easily removed and replaced even after years or decades of being exposed to the elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,711 to Eickhof discloses one type of concealed shutter mounting system that meets all of the foregoing challenges. Variations of the Eickhof '711 concealed shutter mounting system have achieved significant commercial success in the columbarium industry. However, a simpler and more cost effective concealed fastener system is needed in view of the recent trend away from using large 24″×24″ stone panels and toward the use of 8″×8″ individual niche shutters. The terms shutter, panel, slab and facing stone are used interchangeably throughout this specification.
A standard columbarium niche is 8″×8″. Until relatively recently, it was common to use 24″×24″ stone slabs with false joints cut into the finish face of the stone slab to simulate nine 8″×8″ individual niche shutters. Each of the nine 8″×8″ spaces on the large panel is typically engraved with a the name, birth year and death year of the deceased person whose urn resides behind that 8″×8″ space. Thus, each time an urn is to be placed into one of the nine niches, or each time one of the nine niches is to be engraved, the entire 24″×24″ stone panel has to be removed and then replaced. A typical 24″×24″ stone panel weighs about sixty pounds. Because of the potential for misspelling of names or errors in the birth or death dates during each time the panel is engraved, it is not uncommon to have to discard and replace an entire panel due to a single mistake made when engraving one of the nine niches. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that large panels are not only difficult to handle by a single person due to their size and weight, but the use of large panels can be expensive if the panels need to be replaced due to engraving errors.
As a result of the foregoing concerns with the use of 24″×24″ panels, a relatively recent trend in the columbarium industry is to use 8″×8″ individual niche panels. These smaller panels are easier to handle during initial installation and when they need to be subsequently removed for engraving or when placing an urn within the niche. If there is ever an engraving error, only the single 8″×8″ panel needs to be replaced instead of the entire 24″×24″ panel. It should be appreciated, however, that when going from one large panel to nine smaller individual panels, all other things being equal, the amount of individual hardware pieces required to mount the panels will necessarily increase as will the amount of material costs and labor costs associated with the initial assembly of the panels and the initial mounting of the panels.
Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for a universal concealed mounting system capable of use with virtually any size columbarium shutters, but which has fewer pieces and is quicker and easier to assemble and install then currently available mounting systems in order to reduce material costs and labor costs so that even the use of smaller individual 8″×8″ shutters is at least as cost effective as using larger 24″×24″ panels mounted with currently available mounting systems.